Air-lift pump



R. H. TUCKER.

AIR LIFT PUMP. I APPLICATION FILED IE. 24. 1919.

Patented Miu'. 23, 1920.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEICE.

RALPH H. TUCKER, or Los ANGELES, ,cnmronnlmnssienon or CNE-Titian To EDGAR s. CAMERON AND NE-THIRD To CHARLES M. TUCKER, BOTH or Los ANGELES, CALI# FORMA.

.AIR-LIFT PUMP.

recense.

Specication of Letters Patent. Patented Mar. 23, 1920.

Application filed February 24, 1919. Serial 1Go-278,804.

To all 'whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, RALPH H. a citizen of thev United States, residing at lios Angeles, in' the county of Los Angeles and State of aliOrnia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Air-Li1tt Pumps, of which the following is a specilicatio lilly inventio-n relates to air and consistsy oi" the novel features herein shown, descri-bed and claimed.

lF'gure 1 is a fragmentary section of an oil well lined with a casing and provided with an air lift pump embodying the principles of my invention, the .'pump being shown in elevation.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary 4vertical central sectional elevation on a plane parallel with Fig. 1 and showing the construction oi 'the pump.

lli 3 is a horizontal cross section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. f1 is a horizontal line d-Liof Fig. 2.

An oil well hole 1 may -be of any practical depth and an oil well casing 2 may entend to the bottom of the hole 1. A flange 3 may be lixed to cover the upper end of the hole 1 and to cover the upper end of the casing 2. An air lift pump 4 is mounted through the flange 3 and extends down- TUCKER,

cross section `on the wardly into the casing2 to a point belowv the level of the oil in theV casing or to the bottom of the casing.

At the lower end of the pump there is a settling basin 5 consisting of an internal coupling 6, an external coupling 7 screwed upon the lower end of the coupling 6, a pipe section 8 screwed into the coupling 7 and of considerable length and size, a coupling 9 screwed u von the lower end of the' pipe section 8 an a plug 10 screwed intp the coupling 9. The settling basin 5 i 1s preferably thus made u so that it can be readi y assembled andf made of any desired size and length and so that it may be"\readly taken apart.v y

A pum head 11 is connected directly to the top o the settling basin 5 and consists of a cross 12 having one end screwed upon the internal coupling` 6 and having a pum pipe 13 screwed intoan opening in line wit the coupling 6.V Air lift mechanism 14 is mounted-within the pump head l11 4and the' pump pipe 13. A pipe lupple 15 is Screwed litt pumps' of pipe fittings 'the meat diiiiculty down into the reduced upper end of the internal coupling 6. An external coupling 16 is screwed upon the upper end of the pipe nipple 15. A longpi e nipple 17 is screwed down into the coup ing 16 and has radial. slots 18 in its upper end. A plug 19 is screwed into the upper end oi" the pipe 17 and a dedector 26 is screwed up into the plug 19V and has a point 2 1 on a level with the top o i the coupling 16, said dedector 20 being circular in cross section and mounted at the axial center of the pipe 17. A pipe 22 is inserted through a small opening drilled in one side of the pump head 11 and tapped through the coupling 16 between the ends of the pipes 15 and 17, and an air pipe 23 is connected to the pipe 22 by a coupling 24 and extends upwardly through the flange 3 and to the source of a1r supply. Clips 25 connect 'the pipe 23 to the pump pipe 13 so as to steady the air pipe which is considerably smaller-than-the Pump P1P@- In the practical operation air is forced down the pipe 23 through the pipe 22 to a chamber 25', then through the coupling 16 and pipe 17. The oil flows into the pump head 12 through side openings 26 and 27 to a chamber 28 within the pump head 11 and the pump pipe 13 and rises above the radial slots 18. rlfhe air passing upwardly through the chamber 25, throu h the radial'slots18 will be under the oil a ove the slots 18 and will force the oil to flow upwardly. in the pump pipe 13. A T 29 is fixed upon the upper end of the pump pipe 3, the upper end of the T being closed by a plug 30, and aside outlet 31 of the T is left open so that when the oil flows upwardly through the pipe 13 it will be discharged outwardly through the side outlet 31. The

point 21 of the defiector 20 serves to divideV 13 above the flange 17 may be a cap instead of a 'plug and the pipe 22 may be made elbow instead of being bent. v

The trouble with air lift pumps has been in removing the pump and the great liability of the pump clogging with sand so as to require frequent removals.

My air lift :ump may be readily removed from the wel. and cleaned, changed, repaired up of nipples and anand returned to the well, and the use of the settling basin 5 makes it unnecessary to remove the pump frequently because the sand which usually settles in the bottom of the air lift pump head and clogs the pump will pass downwardly into the settling basin 5, and under ordinary conditions the pump will run a considerable length of time before the settling basin ,is illed'sufiiciently to clog the pump head.

Various changes may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention as claimed.

I claim: l Y

1. An air lift pump, comprising a pump head having an inlet; means forming a settling basin extending downwardly from the pump head; an air distributing means extending upwardly from the settling basin within the pump head; and an air pipe connected to the pump head to discharge into the air distributing means.

2. An air lift pump comprising a head forming a main chambenan air stand pipe extending upwardly in and from the bottom of the main chamber having a closed top and air discharge ports comprising narrow slots disposed longitudinally of the stand pipe adjacent to the top thereof, a settling basin extending below the main chamber and communicating with the air stand pipe, and an air conduit connecting with the air stand pipe below the slots.

8. An air lift pump comprising a head forming a main chamber having an inlet means, an air stand pipe extending upwardly within the main chamber having a closed top, air discharge ports comprising narrow slots disposed longitudinally of the stand pipe adjacent to the top thereof, a settling basin extending below the main chamber and communicating with the air stand pipe, and a means for conducting air to the stand pipe below the slots from outside of the main chamber.

4. An air lift pump head comprising a, main chamber having an inletmeans, an air rstand pipeextending upwardly within the main chamber having a closed top and air discharge ports adjacent to the top, means -or conductinv the air to the stand pipe below the discharge ports. and means within the stand pipe disposed between the discharge ports and the air inlet means for distributing. the air equally to the ports.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

RALPH H. TUCKER. 

